Case Study: VG Multimedia achieves real-time traffic monitoring and rapid debugging with Varnish Software (VCS)

How Norway’s most popular online news site uses Varnish VCS to monitor web traffic and resolve problems in real-time

VG Multimedia’s vg.no, Norway’s largest online news site and an early collaborator in the creation of Varnish Cache, struggled with slow, resource‑intensive traffic monitoring. Before Varnish Custom Statistics (VCS) they relied on network sniffers that produced redundant logs, couldn’t report cache hit rates per host or URL, and only provided coarse, delayed visibility into problems.

By deploying VCS—which aggregates real‑time statistics via user‑defined VCL keys and integrates with tools like Graphite—vg.no can drill down into hits and misses for hosts, publications and subpages and view data at 10‑second to 1‑minute intervals. The result is faster detection and resolution of bugs and security issues, improved cache performance and user experience, and new opportunities for real‑time editorial metrics and advertising KPI tracking.

VG Multimedia

Audun Ytterdal

Head of IT Operations